WE NEED TO TALK

Me kōrero ngātahi tātou

Latest News:

We have been advised by NZ Transport Agency, that State Highway 2­­­­ will be closed at Ngatea on Friday with a detour in place from 9am to 3pm for the resurfacing of the Piako River bridge. This is one of the last pieces of work to be completed until contractors return in summer for the final surfacing of the westbound lane between the primary school and Kohunui street.

Better weather has meant good progress this week on the eastbound parking bays.

Work will continue over the weekend on the last few parking bays and intersections, which means work to lay asphalt on the main traffic lanes of SH2 is set to start early next week, weather dependant.

We will be looking to lay the asphalt with traffic under Stop/Go traffic management. If this leads to long delays or unsafe working conditions on site then we will be required to detour traffic around the town.

Work on the site has been pushing ahead this week, with laying of the waterproof membrane seal in preparation for putting down the asphalt and pouring more concrete for the Council's kerb and channel.

The layout of the asphalt on parking bays is scheduled to start today and continue through next week, weather permitting. Then the week beginning 25 May asphalting is due to start on the main part of the road itself, from Dent St to outside the Council Offices.

While the fine weather in the first week meant good preparation for the new asphalt surface, recent heavy rain has meant we couldn't complete the scheduled concrete pours for much of the remaining kerb and channel work on the active site.

This has been pushed out to early next week, weather permitting. We've also had to move the start for asphalt surfacing of the parking bays out to next week.

To find out more about work during Covid 19 Alert Level 2, safety on site and how long the work will take view the 8 May enewsletter.

We’ve had confirmation from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency that work on SH2 through Ngatea’s main street will resume in Alert Level 3. Crews will be back on site from Tuesday 28 April. Check out their notice below.

We’re back on site!

From Tuesday 28 April, state highway works in the Waikato will resume as the country moves to COVID-19 Alert Level 3. This includes work on SH2 through Ngatea’s main street. Crews will be back on site from tomorrow preparing the site for pouring the kerb and channel and resurfacing car parks.

To manage traffic through the site we’ll be removing the one-way detour arrangement that was in place before we stopped work and changing to stop-go traffic management. This means there will be access for two-way traffic through the town centre but with longer delays than when the detour arrangement was in place. You’ll also see more staff on site to help people and traffic move through the town and helping people access off-street parking areas and the side roads.

Please always take care and follow the instructions of traffic management crews.

Based on weather conditions and all going well with the physical works programme, NZ Transport Agency expect the pavement work (sub layer of the road), to be completed in March. The final surface layer of asphalt is expected to be laid the length of the main street (Piako River Bridge to just before Pipiroa Road) in late April, followed by road marking.

This will mark the end of the NZ Transport Agency part of the main street upgrade.

The footpath work will start after that. The footpath will be replaced in 100 metre sections over a period of about 20 weeks. This work can’t start until the current work is finished. Trying to do it at the same time will cause safety issues and delay progress on the road. Luckily the footpath part of the project will be much less disruptive to businesses and the community than the current road renewal work.

Streets ahead in Ngatea

Two separate projects to upgrade the Ngatea main street was set rolling early this year.

NZ Transport Agency is renewing the main highway, repairing the carparks, and surfacing with asphalt from kerb to kerb.

We’re upgrading the kerb and channel as well as replacing the footpaths.

The bulk of the construction work, which includes the highway renewal and kerb and channel, started on 14 January and is expected to continue for about 16 weeks. The footpath will be replaced in sections over a period of about 20 weeks.

Where we are heading

There are many practical things that have to be done before we can turn our thoughts to nice-to-have things like gardens, seating and lighting. We’ve had to be practical about our available budget and time constraints due to fitting in with the work NZ Transport Agency is doing to renew the road. It’s important we fit in alongside NZTA to minimise not only disruption, but also the cost to our ratepayers. Once we’ve got the basics right, we’ll look at options for more street-scape work and how it can be funded further down the track.